Gifford Nielsen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gifford Nielsen is a former NFL and All-American college football quarterback. He is currently the sports director at KHOU-TV in Houston, TX.
[edit] College career
Gifford was an All-American quarterback at Brigham Young University (BYU) under legendary coach LaVell Edwards.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1994.
[edit] NFL career
Nielsen was selected in the third round of the 1978 NFL draft by the Houston Oilers, the team with which he spent his entire NFL career. Nielsen played six seasons as a part-time quarterback. He served as backup to Dan Pastorini in 1978-79 and to Ken Stabler in 1980-81. He saw the most action in his last two seasons, 1982-83, when he shared quarterbacking duties with Archie Manning and Oliver Luck.
One of the highlights of Nielsen's career came in a playoff game against the heavily-favored San Diego Chargers on December 29, 1979. The Oilers' offense was decimated by injuries to key players, including Hall of Fame RB Earl Campbell and QB Pastorini. Nielsen filled in at quarterback, and the Oilers prevailed against all expectations, winning 17-14. This was to be Nielsen's only postseason game as a starter; Pastorini returned for the following week's conference championship game against Pittsburgh.
